A little diversion from the on-again/off-again event coverage here. This short film wanders from the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, to the museum's ColorForms exhibit indoors; then to the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden; and finally to the Smithsonian Institution's Enid A. Haupt Garden. It is a quick trip through the art and flora of our National Mall.

Since tripods are not allowed anywhere in the District without a permit, the footage is shaky (with my apologies). And overall this represents more a leisurely stroll than careful shot composition, so by all means, lower your expectations! This is simply a celebration of art on a beautiful day in Washington, D.C.

The music is composed by Steve Reich, Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards (1980) performed by the San Francisco Symphony under Edo de Waart's direction. The camera is my new acquisition of the Sony NEX-VG10 (this video was my first trial run), and I color-graded the footage using Red Giant Software's "Looks" filter in an Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 editing workflow. Playback here is at 720p when the HD icon at the bottom-right of the frame is red; if your Internet connection or graphics card gives you trouble, though, pause-to-buffer or just toggle it off. Note too that there is an icon at the bottom-right of the frame to fill your screen.